UK pound breaks US$2 mark for first time in nearly 15 years

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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1. Wide, London financial district, "the City" 2. Various skyscrapers in financial district 3. Pan down skyscraper to Barclays Bank entrance 4. Foyer of bank building, financial analyst Henk Potts (repeat : Henk Potts) walks up 5. SOUNDBITE: (English), Henk Potts, Barclays Stockbrokers "Well, we've seen another dramatic in the foreign exchange markets. Today we've seen the pound break through the two-dollar mark. We haven't seen it do that since September, 1992. Obviously, that has implications for consumers and for companies. From a consumer perspective: well, absolutely fantastic for UK consumers going to the United States suddenly everything becomes so much cheaper. Not such good news of course for UK tourism. American tourists coming here to the UK will suddenly find it more expensive. From a corporate perspective, of course it has implications as well. Companies that are looking to export goods, particularly to the United States now find they're very much less competitive than they were only a few months ago. And of course, companies that have significant operations in the United States, who make their money in dollars, when they're is translated back into sterling, it suddenly doesn't look so impressive. So... widespread implications, not only for consumers but also for companies." 6. Financial district, River Thames, Tower of London in foreground 7. Various, Tower of London 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) No name available, American tourist, vox pop: "When we came here we knew it was going to be expensive, for us anyway, We're only here for a week, we've never been here before, so we definitely want to have a good time but I think we're going to be buying more groceries and cooking in my daughter's apartment instead of eating out." 9. Tower Bridge STORYLINE: The British pound broke through the two US dollars mark on Tuesday for the first time in nearly 15 years after new data showed an unexpected surge in inflation, prompting speculation of interest rate increases. The pound was at its highest level since "Black Wednesday" in September 1992, when Britain crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. After initially retreating back below the psychological two US dollars mark, the currency spiked again as the US dollar retreated following the release of U.S. inflation data showing the core prices rose less than expected last month. In afternoon European trade, the currency was trading at 2.0064 US dollars - up from 1.9900 US dollars late on Monday in New York. Financial analyst Henk Potts described it as good news for UK consumers going to the United States - where suddenly everything becomes much cheaper - but not for UK tourism. "Not such good news," he said, "for UK tourism. American tourists coming here to the UK will suddenly find it more expensive. And companies that are looking to export goods, particularly to the United States, now find they're very much less competitive than they were only a few months ago." The government's Office for National Statistics revealed on Tuesday that consumer price inflation accelerated to 3.1 percent in March, up from 2.8 percent in February. The headline rate of retail price inflation, which includes mortgage interest payments, rose to 4.8 percent from 4.6 percent. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2872a75f6d5e3080f0186c88ffe7aec2 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork